5 Ideas for Starting a Small Business without Having an Office

This is a guest post by Emily, a writer for SVA Vending, a trusted company which supplies a vending machines in Australian market. Emily always spends time reading books about business to support her writing skills.

Who says all businesses need deep pockets from which to draw operating capital from?

While you cannot expect to form a high-end tech startup at a bustling city location or a grocery store empire generating millions of dollars in revenue per year, there’s definitely a dozen or so small business ideas that can be formed on a shoestring budget. Some of these ideas for starting a small business don’t even require a fully-equipped office.

1. Child or Pet Sitting

There are two ways to do this – either clients come to your place or you come to theirs.

If you choose to do the former, you’ll need your own home with adequate space. If you choose the latter, you’ll need a reliable mode of transportation to get to your client’s houses.

Child care or pet care services require minimal overhead expenses to start and is ideal for people who love caring for children or pets. The starting rate for these jobs is around $15 per hour.

Before you get excited, however, keep in mind that you’ll need to grow your client base. Which is never that easy to accomplish as parents and pet owners are very meticulous when it comes to finding a babysitter or pet sitter for their loved ones.

2. Home Cleaning

If you like to get down and dirty, home cleaning is a business you may find appealing.

The cleaning industry is subdivided into two market groups – residential and commercial. The residential arena encompasses maid services, carpet cleaning, window cleaning, and a slate of other less-frequently needed cleaning services.

Residential cleaning is generally less expensive compared to commercial cleaning which require more costly commercial-grade equipment and transport vehicles. You don’t need a full office dedicated for your home cleaning business. Just have a smartphone, landline, and computer to manage clients and work schedule.

3. Vending Machine Investing

The vending machine business may not have been shouting “profits” for the past several decades nor is it seen as a sexy or innovative industry, but make no mistake of its profitability as an investment.

You can start with one vending machine and then add new machines as you save up money from your first investment.

You can choose to invest in the type of product being sold, such as drinks, candies, protein bars, toys, etc. A bulk vending machine will cost around $200 or less. The best vending machines, on the other hand, cost around $3,000 and are electronically operated. Although multiple times steeper, these higher-end models offer more space for inventory and are more consumer-friendly.

4. eBay Selling

New business opportunities were birthed at the same time the Internet of Things came into being, one of which is an online seller.

Today, consumers sell their items online on sites like eBay and Amazon. Items of good value at decent conditions fetch an attractive price at online marketplaces than at a garage sale.

Selling at eBay as a business for entrepreneurs will be rocky at first. Don’t expect to make thousands of dollars per week. Nor should you expect it to supplant your existing work.

At best, selling at eBay or Amazon will provide supplementary income for your main job. To increase your revenues through this channel, add links to other eBay products in your auction listings.

5. Writing

All you need is a computer and internet connection to start. That’s literally it.

Although it will feel more of a sideline or gig rather than a small business, you can actually turn it into a business once you have the experience and the connections.

Writers are given more assignments, from blog posts to academic papers, as they prove themselves worthy of such intellectual projects. If you can create consistently high quality articles, you’ll have too many assignments, sometimes more than you can handle at any given day.

You can outsource the workload to other freelance writers for a discounted rate and pocket the difference. All you need to facilitate this is forwarding instructions to your writers via email or instant messaging.

Whether you’ve chosen to go for the eccentric vending machine franchise or the more stable accounting startup, a small business is within reach even for those with limited budget. Make sure you create a business that’s congruent to your passion and expertise. Whatever that may be, there’s always something profitable for you to venture out into.